The Mirror
by An Apple Bleeds At Twilight
Summary: In old age, Alanna reflects on her life. Her life was like a mirror, showing her only the present. She was alone...


**The Mirror**

**By: AnimalWriter1**

**Disclaimer: I own the poem and plot but TP owns the rest.**

It is many years since becoming the first lady knight and now I have grown frail with time. I look in the mirror and see my copper hair has gone gray, my hands, previously able to wield a sword, bony and wrinkled, and my face is lined, my purple eyes have dulled. But my silver wedding band still shines bright.

_Does the mirror still show you what you want?_

I am eighty-nine, almost ninety years old and I am tired. I feel weak and weary these days. Perhaps it is almost my time.

_Or does it rest as a dark reminder, telling you that 'you are on your own now'_

King Jonathan, the king I had served for many years and my friend, died a year ago, Thayet too is gone.

George died in his sleep, five years ago, leaving me alone in this world with no one to love. I still remember that smile he gave me the night we slept as husband and wife, many years earlier.

My acquaintances and friends are deceased. Gareth the Younger died of a heart attack, Raoul, of too much alcohol and many others either died of old age or were slain on the field.

Daine and Numair too, are dead. Numair was crushed beneath two towers during a recent battle, his Gift drained from him. Daine, after two years of mourning him, flew and fell off Balor's Needle in hawk form. She had broken her neck in the fall.

_Those you lost are no longer beside you. Ghosts they merely are now. The mirror doesn't show you the past or future, only the present._

I gazed out the window at my three grown children Thom and the twins Alan and Alianne.

_Your children are grown and living their own lives. They prosper while you disappear into Death._

I miss my friends, king and husband with all my heart. Nothing could have prepared me for their sudden deaths, but as I now think of them, I now know they are proud.

_You turn to the mirror but see nothing but yourself. You are alone in a cold world._

The snow falls lightly to the ground as I sigh and turn to the mirror. I once saw two figures standing here. George once stood beside me, alongside me...

I stood and walked to the mirror and placed my hand on the cold glass. Suddenly as if I dreamt it, George' ghost appeared in front of me, his hand on the glass, matching mine.

_You do see what you wish, but it is merely a hope. The mirror shows you what you dream, but that dream, in truth, has faded._

I gazed sadly at him as he, like a mime, tried to touch my face through the glass. But no, the glass barred the way from life and death.

_The mirror bars the way; still you feel them as if they were with you. _

I saw him slowly fade as sunlight entered the room. I closed the draperies and looked back but, to my disappointment, he was gone.

Taking my sword from the bed I left my room, closing and locking the door behind me. Slowly I walked toward the stables and with the help of a stable boy I mounted Darkmoon.

"Come on Darkmoon" I whispered, "Slowly now, boy, we aren't as young as we used to be" I murmured.

_As we ride though life on time's gentle horse, the mirror shows us the truth._

Darkmoon whickered and began at a trot. I patted his neck and led him through the Royal Forest to a clearing.

I dismounted slowly and sat below a willow tree with a heavy sigh. I unsheathed my blade and gazed into its polished surface. My purple eyes stared back.

'_No', you say. 'I'm not alone yet' but deep inside, you know you are without help, deserted and forgotten._

I gazed at the silver blade a while longer. So many memories flooded back to me, of happier times, of times of sadness. I couldn't take this loneliness any longer.

_Death will welcome you with open arms..._

As if the Black God read my mind, I froze and shook with an uncontrollable tremor. The seizure climaxed as I struggled for breath. I could feel my eyes close as I passed onto the Peaceful Realms and dropped my blade to the ground in front of me as if offering the blade in exchange for serenity.

**Out of Alanna's POV**

The mirror began to suddenly crack. Slowly, as Alanna's convulsion peaked, it began to split and finally the glass burst and fell in shards on the floor.

The mirror of the Lioness' life was broken as was the Lioness herself. Death no longer haunted her but embraced her. She welcomed it willingly.

**Sir Lady Knight Alanna of Pirates Swoop and Olau**

**378 H.E.- 467 H.E.**

**Beloved daughter, wife, mother, friend and Champion**

"**May the Fire-hearted Lioness hunt in peace..."**

_...Once the mirror of your life has shattered._


End file.
